A New Life
by Becca Lavender
Summary: AU circa S2, Vanessa POV.  Answers one of the questions posed by the season four finale:  Would Dan's life have been better had Vanessa not crawled up his fire escape?


_Author's notes: I kept being bugged by the idea behind Dan's line to Vanessa about his life being better before she climbed up his fire escape. I had this idea to craft a lengthy AU run through of S1 and posted Part 1 in Livejournal. Then, I got this vision of Vanessa climbing up the Humphrey fire escape only to find a new family there. I couldn't shake it, and decided that was the story I wanted to tell instead. So, here's Dan's high school life as I would envision it without Vanessa. _

___For the purposes of this story, here is what I think changed without Vanessa, starting in 1.06 and snowballing from there: 1) Serena invites Dan to the masked ball, they go and have a nice time, but nothing dramatic or revelatory happens, 2) Because there's no Jenny/Serena switch up and no Dan/Serena drama, Serena finds Nate much sooner at the ball and he and Blair have sex that night and therefore Blair doesn't break up with Nate after 1.07, and 3) Without Vanessa's encouragement, Jenny doesn't bring Allison home, changing the course for Lily/Rufus. Most everything from there should be clear from the story...And now after the world's longest author notes, enjoy!_

Vanessa stood on the street staring at the fire escape for ten minutes, trying to work up the nerve to climb it. When she had moved to Vermont three years before, she had decided to make a clean break from the boy who had declared his love for her at the most inopportune time. Now this boy was almost 18 years old, and though she had no illusions that time would stand still, she felt confident that Dan Humphrey would always remain the starry-eyed idealist she had left behind.

She couldn't figure out why she was so nervous. While it had been three years since they'd last spoken, she knew that she and Dan shared the type of bond where they could be apart and then pick right back up where they left off. She had climbed up this fire escape hundreds of times. It never crossed her mind to simply knock at the door. She wanted a grand entrance, the type of entrance which would demonstrate that she wanted to pick up where they left off.

Taking a deep breath, Vanessa walked up those still familiar stairs and approached the window which signified home to her more than any place had in her life. As was her normal routine, she opened the window and stepped inside Dan's room.

Soon she discovered it was not Dan's room anymore. It was now a child's room, and the owner of the room was present, staring at her blankly. Vanessa stood frozen in place, unable to move. Then the child, a girl of around four years old, let out a high-pitched, terrified scream.

Vanessa couldn't decide whether it would be better to run or try to explain herself. Her inertia made the decision for her as a woman who she presumed to be the child's mother entered the room.

The woman grabbed the child and shooed her out of the room, presumably to somewhere far away from the intruder. "Are you here to steal something? Take whatever you came for, please just don't hurt my daughter," the woman said, seemingly panicked.

Vanessa felt the shame burn her cheeks. "I'm sorry..." she choked out. "I used to be friends with the boy who used to live here. I thought I'd surprise him..."

The woman looked at her skeptically. "The sellers moved out almost a year ago. It must not have been a very good friend," she said tersely, the panic turning into irritation.

"I moved away," Vanessa said in explanation.

The woman did not look at all moved by this. "Well, I would suggest you learn to use a door in the future. It would save you from awkward moments such as this one," she advised. "In fact, I'll give you your first lesson by showing you the door here."

"Really, I'm sorry. I was very close to the previous owners," Vanessa tried to explain again. "I can find my own way out."

The woman scoffed, "I think I would prefer if I witnessed your exit."

Chagrined, Vanessa followed the woman to the door and walked through it. As she was walking down the hall, she could hear the door slam and the dead bolt click into place. She wasn't sure the Humphreys had ever used a dead bolt.

Shoulders slumping, Vanessa trudged down the stairs. She wasn't sure what to do now. She wanted to surprise Dan in person rather than prepare him with a phone call. She wanted a spontaneous reaction to her return, not one which allowed him time to sift through his emotions beforehand.

Just as she contemplated calling Rufus or Jenny in hopes they would allow keep her confidence, Vanessa noticed a familiar face in the stairwell.

"Joan?" Vanessa hesitantly, hoping she had remembered the name of the Humphrey's old neighbor. Vanessa had always liked Joan, an artist in her fifties who had loved to chat with Dan and Vanessa about the realities of a career in the arts.

The woman did a double take. "Hi...how are you?" She clearly did not remember Vanessa's name. "It's been a long time. You know the Humphreys live in the Upper East Side now, right?"

Vanessa's jaw dropped. "No, I didn't. Do you happen to know where they live?"

The woman hesitated, then seemed to decide that it was okay to share. "Yeah, we exchanged Christmas cards last year. I have their address if you want to follow me inside."

Vanessa smiled in gratitude, relieved her surprise would at least remain in tact.

When Vanessa stepped into the marble lobby, she took a moment to take in her surroundings. It was clear that this was an opulent building, one which she would never imagine housing Dan Humphrey. She glanced down at the address in her hand again, then looked up at the ornate bronze placard on the lobby wall. She had definitely come to the right place. She immediately spotted the doorman, and she again felt disappointed. It was going to be very difficult to surprise Dan with a doorman running interference. She was sad to discover that she may never again be able to just walk into Dan's home again.

Feeling out of her element, she slowly approached the doorman. "Can I help you?" the doorman asked gruffly.

"I'm an old friend of Dan Humphrey, and I was hoping to get to see him," Vanessa explained, still not quite believing she had come to the right place.

"Mr. Humphrey just stepped out. Do you want me to call up and find out when he'll be back?"

"Sure, that would be great," Vanessa said, trying to smile warmly.

Vanessa watched as the doorman explained the situation and then said, "Okay, I will send her up."

Vanessa smiled in relief, happy that she would at least get to see Jenny or Rufus.

"Ms. van der Woodson said you could go on up to the penthouse," the doorman explained.

"The _penthouse?" _Vanessa repeated, not sure how much more shocking information she could take in.

When the elevators opened into the penthouse, Vanessa was immediately greeted by a tall, striking blonde girl. The girl wore a bright smile and drew her into a hug.

"So you're Vanessa!" she said. "I've heard about you from Rufus and Jenny on occasion and I've always been curious. I'm dying to know what Dan was like before we met; he generally changes the subject whenever his Lonely Boy days are brought up."

Vanessa drew herself out of the hug and gaped. "What?" was all Vanessa could think of to say.

Serena laughed warmly. "I'm sorry, I'm Serena van der Woodson, Dan's stepsister. Do you want to hang out while you wait for Dan to come back? He's out playing soccer right now."

"Soccer?" Vanessa parroted, wondering where her vocabulary had wandered off to. "Since when does Dan play soccer?"

Serena shrugged. "I guess since our friend Nate talked him into joining the team. They play all the time now. Who would have thought Dan would turn out to be such a jock?"

"No, the Dan I knew would probably have gotten injured within five minutes," Vanessa said fondly, still unable to picture Dan out playing soccer with a guy friend.

"Let's sit down and talk about this Dan you knew. I used to be able to get stuff out of Jenny, but she pretty much tells me it's too lame to discuss," Serena said as she led Vanessa to the immense living room.

"That sounds like Jenny," Vanessa smiled, glad something had remained the same.

Vanessa learned a staggering amount about Dan's new life over the course of the next hour, each fact more unbelievable than the last. Serena told her about how Allison had left almost more than two years ago, ostensibly for the summer, and but she never came back. During this estrangement, Rufus had reconnected with Serena's mom, an old flame from his Lincoln Hawk days.

"They've both assured us repeatedly that we're not related," Serena said with a laugh. "That would have been _Flowers in the Attic_ levels of disturbing."

Vanessa stared at her blankly, then her meaning clicked. "Wait, you guys are dating?"

Serena giggled and shook her head. "No, not anymore. But we were dating when our parents announced to us on Christmas Eve that they were seeing each other."

"Wow," Vanessa said, then without thinking asked, "Had you guys..."

Serena looked a bit taken aback by the question, but recovered quickly. "Well, that's something you should probably ask Dan. I'm not sure he wants me to spill all his secrets."

"So you're saying there's something to tell," Vanessa said, needing to know the answer for some unknown reason. "If you tell me, I will tell you anything you want to know about Dan's past," she offered.

Serena thought about the proposition and shot Vanessa a sly smile. "Okay. Dan will kill me for telling you this."

Vanessa was confused. Either Serena and Dan had slept together or not, and it was beginning to sound like they had. Vanessa bristled as she waited for Serena to continue, both desperately wanting and not wanting to know the information.

"It's open for debate whether we did or we didn't," Serena said. Noting Vanessa's confused look, Serena continued. "One morning I went over to the loft and we...," Serena paused, looking sheepish, "We um... got started, y'know, and Rufus and Jenny came back with breakfast literally ten seconds later, and that pretty much ended that."

"Awkward," Vanessa said with a grimace.

"Yeah, it didn't help that my best friend kept calling him a half-virgin," Serena said with a wry smile. "Anyhow, after that we decided to wait and then Christmas Eve happened. It became too weird to stay together once our parents were dating."

"And now you two are okay as stepsiblings?"

Serena shrugged. "It was awkward at first, but now I really do think of him as a brother. It seems like a lifetime ago that we dated. A lot has changed for both of us since then."

It was beginning to really sink in for Vanessa how Dan had this whole life that didn't include her. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but it wasn't this. There had definitely been some part of her that imagined he'd just closed himself off completely, putting all the teenage boy hurt and isolation into his writing as he continued to pine for her. Instead, it appeared he finally had started to open up to the rich kids at his school and was even fitting in. Vanessa knew that he underneath his bravado about the superficiality of the UES world that he yearned to fit in. Vanessa briefly wondered if she had been the one holding him back all along.

Serena spoke again, startling Vanessa out of her revelry, "Now you have to share. While Dan is like a brother to me now, I do remember being surprised by certain...skills he had. Were you his teacher?" Serena asked conspiratorially.

Vanessa initially was stricken by the question, then looked wistful. "It wasn't me, I'm just the girl he confessed his love to on my last night in town. He either had secret hookups or is just a natural," Vanessa said, trying to control her emotions. She had an uncontrollable desire to flee, not sure she even wanted to see Dan anymore.

Her decision was taken from her when the elevators dinged, breaking up the tension in the room. Serena jumped up from the couch and headed toward the entrance. "That must be Dan," Serena said excitedly. "Let me go get him."

Vanessa sat on the couch, bracing herself. When she woke up that morning she couldn't wait to see his reaction; now she wasn't so sure what his reaction would be.

"I've got a surprise for you!" Vanessa could hear Serena say in a sing song voice. Vanessa stood up and turned around, her eyes looking straight into Dan's.

Dan stood still, doing a double take as though his eyes were playing a trick on him. She had to admit, he looked really good. Still dressed in his t-shirt and shorts from soccer, he had a masculine energy to him that he did not have when he was younger. She couldn't read him at all, which unnerved her. Then slowly his mouth turned up into a wide grin, and the smile reached his eyes. Vanessa smiled too, relieved.

"Vanessa?" Dan said, laughing, "Is that really you, or did Nate slip something into my Gatorade?"

Vanessa finally noticed the boy who had entered with Dan, also dressed for soccer. The other boy, who must be Nate, rolled his blue eyes and let out a small huff. Dan walked quickly toward her and wrapped her in a warm embrace. He pulled back and looked at her, tilting his head.

"Not that it's not great to see you, but what are you doing here?"

Vanessa shrugged, smiling. "I'm finally moving back to the city now that I'm 18. The loft was my first stop as soon as I dropped off my stuff at my sister's."

Dan gave her a knowing smile. "You didn't happen to go up the fire escape, did you?"

Vanessa looked sheepish. "It looked very possible for awhile that our reunion was going to involve you bailing me out of jail."

"Has this finally taught you that it can be good to use the occasional bit of social propriety, such as front doors and knocking?" Dan asked teasingly. Vanessa felt at ease for the first time since she climbed up the fire escape.

"Do you want go grab coffee and catch up?" Vanessa asked.

"I'd love that. I should probably jump in the shower and change first," Dan said warmly.

Serena cleared her throat and shot Dan a look that Vanessa couldn't decipher. "Since Dan is being rude, Vanessa, this is our friend Nate. Nate, this is Dan's old friend Vanessa. Why don't you guys get acquainted with each other for a minute while I go talk to Dan for a second," Serena said, walking toward the corner of the room as Dan followed closely behind her.

"Let's do sit down," Nate said politely. "I'm curious to know about what Dan was like before we met him. Surely there's a bad hair style in there to mock him with." Nate gave her a warm smile, and Vanessa couldn't help but be drawn in by his eyes.

"You didn't know about Dan's fro?" Vanessa said as she walked with Nate to the living room, sitting on the opposite couch.

Vanessa half-heartedly engaged in conversation with Nate while simultaneously trying to listen in on the other conversation between Dan and Serena. Vanessa watched Serena give Dan a light smack upside the head while she rolled her eyes and smiled at him. Vanessa couldn't make out very many words, but what snatches she did hear confused her. Something about "Blair" and "Gossip Girl."

"Aw, looks like someone's in trouble," Nate said with an easy grin, drawing her attention back to him.

"I wonder what that's all about," Vanessa wondered.

Nate shrugged. "Serena probably thinks it's a bad idea for you and Dan to go out in public alone, you know, with Gossip Girl and all."

Vanessa vaguely remembered Dan talking about Gossip Girl in the past, but she wasn't sure what that had to do with her and Dan.

Serena and Dan came back to the living room to join them, Serena sitting on the sofa next to Nate who casually swung his arm around her shoulders. Rather than sit beside her on the opposite couch, Dan settled into a nearby armchair.

"Serena suggested that it would be better if we just hang out here," Dan said in a near monotone.

Serena, who had been rapidly typing something into her phone, looked up to speak. "Vanessa was just beginning to spill when you got here; I want to know all the secrets that Jenny refuses to share anymore," Serena said in a sunny voice, but Vanessa knew something else was going on.

"Did she tell you that Dan used to have a fro?" Nate asked, catching Dan's eyes and shooting his friend a smug smile.

Dan groaned and made an exaggerated motion of covering up his face and shaking his head. "I leave the room for two minutes, and look what happens. The cool image I've been so carefully crafting already ruined."

At that moment, Vanessa heard heels clicking against the marble floors. In walked a petite brunette who may have been the most put together person Vanessa had ever seen in her life. From her glossy curls to her manicured nails to her expensive looking shoes, she exuded every image that Vanessa had in her mind of the girls from Dan's school.

"Oh, Humphrey, you never had a cool image to ruin," the brunette said affectionately before plopping herself straight into Dan's lap. She then cupped Dan's face and pulled him in for a deep kiss. After they broke apart, the brunette shot Vanessa a wide smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't notice you. Are you a new friend of Serena's?" she asked sweetly.

Vanessa saw Dan roll his eyes without any real irritation beneath the action. "Blair, this is Vanessa, my old friend who just moved back from Vermont. Vanessa, this is Blair, my suddenly overly affectionate girlfriend."

"You know I can't resist you when you're fresh from the soccer field," Blair said sweetly. Nate let out a light chuckle and Serena looked like she was trying not to laugh. Dan just shook his head with no small amount of affection.

"I'll keep that in mind," Dan said lightly. "You came just in time. Apparently Vanessa has been telling Serena and Nate all about my awkward youth."

All eyes turned to Vanessa, who had been observing the easy camaraderie of the group and how Dan fit into the group dynamic. There was a time that Dan was only like this with Vanessa and his family. She felt like an outsider in Dan's life, even though Dan himself was acting like an older, more confident version of the boy she still considered her best friend despite her absence.

Trying to maintain the lightness in the room, Vanessa rejoined the conversation. "From what Serena told me, your awkward youth didn't end all that long ago, if at all," Vanessa said teasingly.

Dan's quickly turned his head to Serena. "What exactly did you tell her?"

"Thanks a lot," Serena told Vanessa in mock seriousness, "I told you he'd kill me for telling you."

"Okay, out with it Vanessa. What did embarrassing story did Serena tell you?" Dan asked her, and looked her straight in the eye and continued in a sincere voice, "Remember we've been friends since we were kids. You don't owe anything to Serena."

"Maybe we should just guess," Nate suggested. He pulled Serena in closer to him and bowed his head toward her, smiling and asked, "Did you tell him about the time you and I had to pick Dan up after Chuck left him shoeless and drugged on the side of the road?"

Serena smiled and shook her head. "Nope, keep guessing."

"Was it about the clothes that he used to wear before we started dating?" Blair chimed in, earning an eye roll from Dan.

"No," Serena laughed and turned to Dan. "I always thought your clothes were cute."

"Serena told me about you being a half-virgin," Vanessa blurted, and everyone was stunned silent like they had forgotten she was even there.

"That's not so embarrassing anymore," Blair said as she pinched Dan's cheek before turning her gaze onto Vanessa. "After all, I went ahead and finished the job a long time ago."

Dan turned bright red and avoided Vanessa's eyes as Nate groaned from the couch. "Blair, I'm right here," Nate said chidingly.

"Oh, you know you were looking for an excuse to break up with me long before Dan and I got together, basically ever since Serena came back," Blair told him dismissively. "Dan and I just relieved you of your obligation."

Nate opened his mouth to say something, then shrugged, seemingly conceding the point.

"Wow, you guys are all really...close," Vanessa stuttered out.

"That's one way to put it," Dan said dryly. "Dysfunctional would be another."

"Just as all families are," Blair said. "We even have a creepy uncle named Chuck."

"The less said about Chuck, the better," Dan interjected.

"So, Vanessa, where are you going to college? Is that why you came back to the city?" Serena asked, in a clear attempt to change the subject.

"I'm not going to college. I want to make documentaries, and my family has always believed in the school of life," Vanessa said with her chin raised proudly.

"Wow, you can do that?" Nate asked in awe.

Dan looked slightly disappointed. "I'd always hoped you'd find your way to college," Dan told her with a hint of sadness in his tone.

"Some of us don't have parents who married rich so we can go to any school we want," Vanessa snapped back. "Where are you going, Dartmouth, like your pipe dream back when you were a scholarship kid?"

"Yale," Dan coughed sheepishly.

"We're actually going to Yale together," Blair said smugly.

"Of course you are," Vanessa scoffed.

Vanessa saw Dan tense and the anger flare into his eyes. "What the hell is your problem, Vanessa? You don't call or write me for three years, and you think you understand my life based on a half hour conversation with Serena?"

"I've seen plenty," Vanessa said in return, her voice raised. "The Dan I knew would have been horrified by your new life. Look at you! You live in a penthouse with a stepsister who is also your ex-girlfriend, have a high maintenance, snobby girlfriend, and play soccer with trust fund babies before you venture off to Yale, which will presumably be funded by your socialite stepmother."

The room was silent as Nate quickly stood up. "It was really nice to meet you, Vanessa," Nate said in a polite, formal voice. "Unfortunately I have to be somewhere."

"Remember you wanted to show me that thing, right Nate?" Serena asked.

"Uh, sure. Let's go look at that thing...somewhere else," Nate said. "See you guys later."

Nate and Serena fled the room, escaping the awkwardness. Blair remained firmly entrenched in Dan's lap as she glared at Vanessa defiantly.

"You know that you broke his heart three years ago, right? He pined for an adequate period of time, scribbling ridiculous, flowery prose into spiral notebooks," Blair said coldly, ignoring Dan's puzzled look. "Do you know how much it rips your heart out to have your best friend just abandon you right around the same time your family falls apart? Both Dan and I know what that's like, and I can tell you that Dan gave you a far better reception than I gave Serena because that's the kind of person he is."

Vanessa could tell that Dan was moved by this speech from the way his eyes softened and the brief, tender kiss he laid on her hairline. Vanessa felt tears well up in her eyes. This was harder to watch than the kiss Blair had used earlier to mark her territory.

"Let me walk Vanessa out," Dan said softly to Blair, holding his hand out to help Blair stand up. Vanessa stood up as well, and Dan put a hand at the small of her back to escort her out.

Once they were standing alone together by the elevators, Dan turned to her and looked her in the eyes, his eyes colder and more distant than she'd ever seen them.

"I have no idea how Blair knows about you breaking my heart; I very intentionally never talk about you. That being said, she's right. You left, and I know it wasn't your fault, and I know it was awkward when I told you how I felt, but it really hurt when you never contacted me again. Then my mom left, and my dad and Jenny were in denial. I had never been so alone in my life."

"Dan, I had no idea..." Vanessa said, the tears falling freely now.

"No, how could you?" he cut her off. "Luckily, I met Serena. She was the first real connection I'd made to someone other than you who wasn't a member of my family. Then came Blair, and later Nate. I have a new family now, including a stepbrother who's pretty awesome. And yes, now I have money and live in a penthouse and get to attend my dream school. And you know what? I'm not going to apologize for my life."

"I don't want you to," Vanessa protested.

"Yeah, you do," Dan said, not unkindly. "I used to do the same to everyone around me, and all it did was make me a loner."

"You never did with me," Vanessa told him sincerely. "Our friendship was always unconditional."

Dan smiled sadly. "We held the same rigid ideals. I've grown out of that, by both choice and necessity. I would love to have you back in my life, but you have to decide if you're willing to accept me as I am now, not the person you remember."

"I can do that," Vanessa said, trying to convince them both.

Dan looked at her, trying to gauge her sincerity. He then moved forward and pulled her into an embrace. "Don't make promises you can't keep. I know it's a lot to take in," he told her sincerely, the rancor completely gone from his voice. "If you decide you're ready to start over, why don't you come by here for brunch on Sunday. I know my dad and Jenny will be excited to see you, and there's always enough waffles to go around."

"I'll think about it," Vanessa told him, already yearning for the familiar Humphrey waffles.

Vanessa pulled out of Dan's embrace and ruffled his hair. "If I come, I'll be sure to bring pictures of the fro," she smiled.

Dan leaned over and pressed the button to the elevator. "Are you trying to get me to rescind the invitation, Abrams?"

They looked at each other and laughed, and Vanessa felt that maybe there was a place for her in Dan's life after all. They stood in comfortable silence until the elevator arrived a few moments later.

"I did miss you," Vanessa told him as she stepped into the elevator.

"Me too," Dan smiled as the elevator doors shut.

As soon as she stepped off the elevator, Vanessa realized she had managed to leave her purse upstairs. With a sigh, she waited for the next elevator and returned to the penthouse, hoping that she could sneak in and out undetected.

Thankfully, the living room was empty. She immediately spotted her purse on the couch. She picked it up and turned to leave when she heard voices coming from down the hall. Unable to help herself, she crept closer to the voices and stood at the end of the hall, out of sight should anyone emerge from a bedroom.

"So, how did you know about Vanessa anyhow?" she heard Dan ask.

"You leave all those notebooks around for anyone to read. Do you really think no one reads them?" Blair said in return. Vanessa couldn't help but smile. Unbeknownst to Dan, Vanessa had read virtually everything Dan had written back in the day.

"I thought it was implied that those were private," Dan said huffily.

"Please. Even an eight-year old girl knows to put a lock on a diary if she wants it to remain private," Blair scoffed.

"I should know by now that subtlety is lost on you," Dan said, the irritation gone from his voice.

"Luckily there was no subtlety in the angsty notebooks chronicling your heartbreak at the hands of Vanessa Abrams," Blair said tersely.

"Ouch. Way to hit me where it hurts," Dan said in a teasing voice. "Are you jealous of Vanessa?"

"Should I be? You hid it all from me for a reason," Blair said, the hurt breaking through. Vanessa leaned forward a little in anticipation, wanting to know Dan's answer.

"You have no reason to be jealous," Dan said in a definitive tone which left no room for doubt. "Vanessa's a part of my past, and what I felt for her was so different from what I feel for you. I never talked about her because I almost never think about her."

Vanessa flinched. She had returned largely because she had never stopped thinking of him.

"What if I forbid you from being friends with her?" Blair asked. "You do realize how pretty she is, don't you?" Vanessa couldn't help but be pleased at the compliment.

"What if I forbid you from being friends with Nate? You do realize how pretty he is, don't you?" Dan parroted back at her.

"Ugh, I really hate you sometimes, you know," Blair said haughtily, but Vanessa could hear the smile in her voice.

"I know," Dan said lightly followed by a light chuckle.

They were silent for several seconds, and Vanessa was just about to leave once and for all when Blair broke the silence, her voice breathless, "You know, one of these days you're not going to be able to distract me like that when I want to be mad at you."

Dan laughed warmly, but his tone was serious when he spoke. "I wasn't trying to distract you. I want to reassure you that I am only interested in reconnecting with Vanessa as a friend and nothing more. She was a really important part of my life...she was an honorary Humphrey back when my family was together. Surely you can understand why I would want to hold on to that relationship in some form."

"_Fine," _Blair agreed, not completely happily.

"Anyhow, I doubt she's been hung up on me all this time, or ever was in the first place. Though I'm flattered that you seem to think I'm so irresistible," Dan said flirtatiously.

"Whatever," Blair said with an exasperated sigh. "I'm tired of talking about this anyhow. This is a gross misuse of an empty apartment."

"I agree with you completely," Dan said in a deep voice and Vanessa heard the door snick closed, and the apartment was silent. Not wanting to hear anything else coming from that bedroom, Vanessa decided it was time to leave. She'd find out at brunch if their friendship had any chance of repair, or if Dan had gotten completely lost in the trappings of wealth that shaped his new life. She just hoped he wasn't lost to her forever. 


End file.
